in Ancient Egypt
This lesson will introduce students to the fundamentals of creating
video content for Web pages.
Objective: At the end of this lesson students will understand
how to write, organize, and compile
information necessary to create video footage that can be inserted
into Web pages.
Materials: Internet access, VHS, 8mm, or digital video camcorder,
video tape, Power Macintosh, IMac or G3 computer,
comoPentium I or higher computer system equipped with audio/video input
capabilities, 16mg RAM, 4 gigabite harddriv">
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e, and the fact that the Internet will be installed in classrooms across
the U. S. more and more teachers/educators will be faced with tcan be done
by the teacher with the students serving as narrators, actors, or commentators.)
Provide students with teacher identified directions.
i.e. groups will produce a video that shows the life cycle of a butterfly,
groups will identify a famous people from a specific
time in history and present a 1 minute docutary on their life.
Group students into teams of 4 or 5.Assign each student with a role
in the production: director, producer, art director, writer, editor.
Have teams brainstorm ideas
of how they think their topic can be presented visually.
The producer will also function as the recorder and write down
group suggestions. Once each group develops their idea, have students
write a rough draft script for their movie. Working from their script,
students will create an outline of their shots (video images they want
to capture) and organize them into a storyboard which will show the sequence
of events.
Sample Storyboard
| Welcome to Ancient Egypt | |
| Title Graphic | The eye was a very important symbol
in Ancient Egypt |
Images for the storyboard can be handdrawn pictures, words, or pasted
in graphics which represent the content of each scene. To keep the
project
manageable for you and your students, try to keep movies short, no
longer than :15-:20 seconds. Remember, you will be embedding the movie
into a Web page so you want to keep the file small.
Once the storyboard is finished, students will be ready for the actual
video shoot. At this stage, the rough draft should be edited and
revised
before the actual video shoot. Working from the storyboard, have
students videotape each scene. The director will be responsible for
timing scenes and making sure the final cut stays within the :15-:20
time frame.
Your students now should have raw video footage that is ready to be
computerized, compressed and coded for inclusion in your Web page.
Connect the camcorder to your computer and use Apple's Quick Time software
to capture raw video footage. Save the finished movie.
To play the movie on your Web page, insert an Object tag <OBJECT>
into your HTML document.
Click here for a tutorial on creating Quick Time movies and adding objects to your Web pages.
Congratulations! You have now entered the world of multimedia
for the Web. Hope this has been a truly moving experience for
Connect the camcorder to your computer. Turn the camcorder
and your computer on and Open Quick Time. If your camcorder is connected
properly, you should see an image in the Quick Time window coming from
the camera. If the window is black or fuzzy, there is no video signal
coming
into your computer. If this is the case, check your connections.
Now try a test video capture to make sure you are getting video and audio
signals open Quick Time.
Ok, so you think one minute is
The key to any successful Web page project is planning. When adding
movie files as objects to
your page, planning cannot be an afterthought. To develop a concise
plan, work your ideas the
same way video producers approach a new project. Since you will
be working with moving visual images
begin to think of the project in terms of sequences. What do
you want to come first, second, third, and so
on. Visualize the content as you would like to see it presented
in its finished form and write your ideas down
on paper.
Now to manage the project, put your ideas into a workflow chart which
we will call a Storyboard
When creating film and video, storyboards allow you to organize the
the sequence in which each scene will appear
in your movie.
bcontent requires the
same, if not not more, planning time to ensure you get the results
you want